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Rickety service
Politics of the bus
The fast-food leap
Slowdown in Haryana While mom's away,
dad will pay Aids spreads in
Himachal
From the pages of
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Fighting forces With
the implementation of phase I of the A.V. Singh Committee report on cadre reorganisation in the three services, aimed at reducing the age profile of field commanders and increasing vertical mobility by putting promotions on a fast track, steps have been taken to both augment fighting capability and make the services more attractive for new entrants. Additional ranks have been put on time scale, more slots created, and the time taken to be considered for promotions reduced. The recommendations were first implemented in December last for the Army, the service facing an officer shortage pegged at 11,709. The Navy and the Air Force have followed more recently, benefiting thousands of junior and middle-level officers, up to the ranks of Colonel, Captain and Group Captain in the three services, respectively. The phase II recommendations have figured in the discussions in the commanders' conferences held this week, and the Defence Minister has rightly noted that the aims of the report can be "achieved and maintained in a sustained manner" only if all the recommendations are implemented. The immediate need is to move forward on implementing phase II. Much of this will involve cadre reorganisation in the higher ranks starting from Brigadier, Commodore and Air Commodore in the three services. There will be the obvious financial implications, but there is need to create a lean and mean force with the optimum combination of manpower and arms and platforms. Other forms of re-organisation also need to be considered, and the recent creation of a new Army South Western Command at Jaipur is a step in that direction. While the quality of both men and materials decides the fitness and motivation of an armed service, it is important that both the soldier in the frontline, and the commander in the bunker, feel that they have also the right kind of equipment at their disposal. |
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Rickety service In
a state where the Finance Minister himself admits the government’s inability to deliver in many areas, one should not expect much from, or complain about, government institutions, specially those in the service sector. Yet, even by Punjab’s below-average delivery standards, the state’s transport sector touches a new low in public (non-)service. The news report that 93 per cent of the Punjab Roadways buses are not roadworthy may be disturbing for the socially aware and the civilised, but those who let such murderous vehicles ply, risking the lives of ordinary travellers, do not seem to bother. The last bus purchases the Punjab Government made were in 1997-98 and the practice of making replacements by acquiring 100 to 150 vehicles annually was given up long ago, apparently for lack of funds. There is a deliberate and clear motive behind the slow wiping out of Punjab Roadways. The purpose is to encourage private fleets, mostly owned by Congress and Akali politicians. Nothing wrong in that except that private bus owners do not operate on less or non-profitable routes and rural travellers are denied access to public transport. What is worse, many buses owned by influential politicians ply illegally on unauthorised routes without paying the requisite taxes. The agitated roadways workers have many times seized such buses, resulting in scuffles and strikes, but no one has cared to stop this practice. It is privatisation with a vengeance with no effective regulator in place. The threat to public safety is not just from the obsolete fleet that the government runs, but also from bad roads. These tend to shorten the life span of travelling individuals as well as vehicles. Neither roads are repaired nor vehicles are properly maintained and the excuse trotted out is the same familiar one: no funds. However, according to a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General for the year ending March, 2004, funds available under the Pradhan Mantri Sadak Yojna were not fully utilised by the state government for building and recarpeting roads. Poor governance makes itself visible in many forms. Look at the transport sector for its clear signs. |
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It’s never too late to become what you might have been.
— George Elliot |
Politics of the bus FOR a variety of reasons, most of which have to do with security concerns of the two states, the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service is still very restricted and closely monitored. As it exists the bus service has merely a symbolic value for India and Pakistan. For the people of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, however, the bus has a very high emotional quotient attached to it. Already, there is emerging a serious disconnect between the expectations of the peoples of J and K (including the portions of the state under Pakistan’s illegal occupation) and the exigencies of state security. This disconnect is likely to grow as more buses ply on the route and this will create pressures on the establishments of both India and Pakistan to try and open things more and more, not only along the LoC but also along the international border. When the bus service was first proposed, the general sense on both sides of the LoC was that it will lead to free movement of goods and people. A visit to PoK last November was quite instructive regarding the aspirations and expectations of the people. The only thing everyone seemed interested in was opening up of traditional routes between the two parts of Kashmir, and allowing free movement of people, goods and politicians. Everything else was secondary — UN resolutions, plebiscite, etc. The issue of divided families — most of which incidentally are not in Kashmir valley but in the Jammu region — and trade and commerce appeared to be the guiding force behind the desire for softening the LoC. The bus service as it exists is hardly going to satisfy the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Interestingly, the manner in which the dynamics of the bus service is developing, no matter whether the bus service is a success (measured in terms of more and more people applying for travel) or a failure (people dismiss the bus service because of the limited nature of the service and the restrictions attached to travelling across the LoC), there will be pressure on the establishments of both India and Pakistan to widen the nature and scope of this CBM. If the bus service is a “success”, it will give rise to demands for more buses along the route, greater relaxation and freedom of movement, permission for trade and commerce across the LoC and opening up of other routes (Jammu-Sialkot, Jammu-Mirpur and Kargil-Skardu). On the other hand, if the service is a “failure”, there will be pressure on both sides, which have invested so much in this CBM, to ensure its success by conceding all the demands that will rise in case of a “successful” bus service. The end result will be that the LoC will get converted into a soft border, demarcating the two Kashmirs. But this will neither mean that the LoC will become a de jure border (it is already a de facto border), nor will it mean that the issue of Kashmir will be resolved, at least not immediately. All that it will do is make the problem more manageable and create conditions for an eventual solution. The final solution will almost certainly be around the LoC. But what could surprise the two establishments in India and Pakistan is how this solution is reached. What is most likely to happen is that the forces unleashed by greater interaction between the two Kashmirs could bring India and Pakistan together in a cooperative effort to keep what they have and deny the Kashmiris what they want. The first thing that will happen with the bus is that it will isolate the jihadis. The jihadis are facing a great dilemma. If they allow the bus, they will eventually get isolated. On the other hand if they obstruct the bus, it will alienate them from the people in whose name they claim to be waging their jihad. What is more, threats by front organisations of jihadi groups based in Pakistan have come as a challenge to both India and Pakistan. Unless they want the bus service to end, India and Pakistan will have to ensure the security of not only the bus but also of the passengers who travel on it. This will create pressure on the Pakistani security establishment to crack down harder on the jihadi groups. Once the jihadi threat is ended, it will allow for greater and closer interaction between the peoples and politicians of the two parts of Kashmir. This is when the interests of the Indian and Pakistani state will converge. A closer interaction between the peoples will only bring out the differences in them. That there is no one Kashmiri identity is something most Kashmiris will realise once they start interacting with the peoples of PoK. Except for a common religion (which we know from the experience of Bangladesh is hardly a factor in the forging or binding a nation), the Kashmiris of the Valley have nothing in common with the “Kashmiris” in PoK — language, culture, clothes, food and social structures. If anything, the PoK Kashmiris have more in common with Jammu than with Kashmir. Surprisingly, the “Kashmiris” in PoK identify themselves as Kashmiris, which no self-respecting Jammuwallah will ever do. And just as the Valley Kashmiri treats the Jammuwallah with contempt, so he will the PoK “Kashmiri”. Just let them meet and the differences will come out. What is more, the political interests of the Valley Kashmiri militate against any framework other than what currently exists in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. In J and K, they have a majority, but in a united Kashmir, they will be reduced to a minority and will have to depend on the Punjabi and Dogri “Kashmiri” for political power. And as we know from the experience of partition, politicians would rather divide than unite if it means losing political supremacy. Therefore, one of three things is going to happen with a soft LoC. One, the Kashmiris in India will pipe down and reconcile to the great deal they have in India rather than hanker after an uncertain future in Pakistan. Incidentally, once the Valley Kashmiri travels to PoK he will see for himself the pitiable condition in which the “freedom fighters” from the Valley, who crossed in the first flush of insurgency to PoK, are living. Two, there could be a resurgence in Kashmiri sub-nationalism. This would lead to a demand for independence from both India and Pakistan. If this happens, then the chances are that both India and Pakistan will get together and crush the Kashmiris and keep what they have. Finally, there is also the possibility that once the LoC softens, the demand for accession to Pakistan may gain strength. But having seen Kashmir on both sides I for one don’t think this will happen. Nor for that matter does constellation of stars predict such an eventuality. Remember the
astrologer. |
The fast-food leap
While eating spicy fried chicken at the newly opened and apparently very popular KFC at Madhya Marg, I couldn’t help but marvel at the ease with which America has arrived here and the comfort with which the people have mastered the art of fast food ordering. I arrived in the US as a student in the late 80s. After the first few days of classes, my American professors were perplexed that I did not display any symptoms of a culture shock. But then, they did not realise that the exotic India they envisioned (I guess they were thinking of peacocks and palaces) — was already suffused with western sub-cultures. Rolling Stones was very popular as well as Joseph Heller and Harrison Ford. Our generation wore jeans, spoke a great deal of English and was, yes, severely challenged when it came to fast-food and gadgets. After the initial dust settled and I found a few new students like me, we ventured into the McDonald’s near the campus. It took us a long time to decipher the displayed menu. A Quarter-Pounder, the Big Mac, Fillet-O-Fish — all the names seemed very daunting and unknown. After due discussion amongst ourselves, I was designated to place order. I stammered over our order with my heart pounding and ears reddening. Then came the curve ball — “ faeretogo?” — What could that mean? I pondered furiously. I asked for a repeat. The southern kid with a thick accent fired the same question with equal alacrity and then gauging by my vacant and lamb-like stare, took pity on me and rephrased the question: “Do you want to eat here or do you want to take it to go?” I knew of a student who went to the same McDonald’s and ordered eggs. When asked by the clerk — “How do you like your eggs, sir?” — meaning “How would you like them to be prepared?” — he was quick with his reply — “Oh, I like my eggs very much!” — something that become a popular quote in the campus. My limited technological exposure was quite evident in the first few months. I lurked around the coin-operated laundry room in the student housing complex for days, stealing glances at the people who put in the coins, adjusted the settings and ran the washing machines. The first time I ran the machine, with much trepidation, I washed all my clothes in the hottest possible setting — a matter that was unkind to my Indian cotton kurtas. I confided in an American friend that I had never operated an ATM machine and requested a demo. She was much bemused and made it a point to tell the whole class of this precious ignorance. I learnt lots of new English like “the printer is down (not not working)”, “The hallway (not corridor) is to the right”, “The phone is busy (never engaged)”, “Please go to the check-out line” — through some ignominy, some bravery and some grace. It’s amazing how seamlessly we have covered so much ground and have taken so comfortably to Hallmark cards and fast food menus. We have truly crossed over.
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Slowdown in Haryana However, since the onset of the policy of liberalisation in the national economy in 1991-92, it has fallen below the national average. In fact, during this period the growth rate of southern and western states accelerated substantially, while that of Haryana slowed down. The net result is that nine other states are growing at a faster rate than Haryana. If the trend continues, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat will overtake Haryana in terms of per capita income in the near future. The slowing down of the economy of Haryana can be explained by the slackening performance of agriculture, growing at 1.6 per cent annum in comparison to the 2.1 per cent growth rate in the country. The inference is clear. The impact of wheat and rice-led agricultural development is petering out as almost all parts of the state have already benefited by the spread of hybrid seeds, assured water supply and chemical fertiliser-based technology. In the meanwhile, other states are catching up fast with Haryana. Obviously, Haryana need to think something innovative to maintain its leading position in agriculture. Agriculture contributes more than 30 per cent of the state income of Haryana which is way above the share of agriculture at 22 per cent of the GNP of India. Interestingly, the share of industry in the state at 28 per cent is also significantly above the industry’s share of 22 per cent in the country. It means in Haryana the service sector contributes relatively lower at 42 per cent of income in comparison to its share at 56 per cent in India. The service sector includes banking, insurance, retail, construction, education, tourism, health, entertainment and, of course, IT and BPOs. The service sector has been the driving force behind the superlative performance of the southern and western states. Moreover, it creates maximum jobs for skilled workers. In Haryana this sector is growing at a reasonably good rate but it is concentrated at a few pockets near Delhi and Chandigarh. The rest of Haryana is more or less bypassed by the service sector boom. Haryana can do much better on this front provided adequate physical infrastructure and appropriate policy mix is put in place. Basically, the service sector requires a vibrant and cosmopolitan city life with necessary facilities. A general perception is that in the cities of Haryana a cosmopolitan outlook and requisite infrastructure are conspicuous by their absence. Another development is that the number of workers dependent on agriculture has declined steadily from 61 per cent in 1981 to 58 per cent in 1991 and 51 per cent in 2001. This population will shift to cities sooner or later as by definition the scope of improvement in opportunities in the non-agriculture sector is extremely limited in the rural areas. This is going to put enormous pressure on the already inadequate infrastructure of the cities of Haryana. Haryana presents a peculiar picture of development story. The agriculture-led growth has ensured a low poverty ratio in the state. Economic infrastructure is also reasonably well developed and it ranks fourth in the country. However, the social indicators leave much to be desired. The literacy rate among males and females in Haryana is 79.3 per cent and 56.3 per cent respectively, which is way below that of the comparably developed states. In male literacy Haryana ranks 16th and in female literacy it is a abysmally 22nd in India. Similarly, with regards to infant mortality rate and sex ratio Haryana occupies 25th and 28th place in the country. The sex ratio, in Haryana at 861 is the lowest in the country. Alarmingly, the rate is further declining. As per the economic survey of Haryana 2003-04, in the age group 0-6 years only 820 females are there behind every 1,000 males. Equally disturbing is the deteriorating condition of primary education and availability of hospital facilities in the state. In 1980-81 more than 99 per cent of the boys in the age group of 6-11 years were attending school. This number came down sharply to 76 per cent in 2001-02. Any discussion of the economy of Haryana will remain incomplete until the regional variation in development is explicitly taken care of. The sales tax collection is taken as a proxy of economic activities in the region. In 1990-91, the share of top five districts in the total sales tax collection was 70 per cent. In 2001-02 it went up to 78 per cent. The already skewed distribution of development is getting more concentrated. Interestingly, during this period Hisar district bowed out of the list and Panipat took an entry with a bang. The decline in the share of Rohtak, Hisar and Sirsa is a matter of concern as it means that a large part of the state is stagnating. Employment in the private organised sector represents the extent of modernisation of the economy. In the absence of sufficient employment opportunities in the government sector, only the private organised sector offers hope for the educated workforce. Unfortunately, Haryana seems to be not doing well on this front either. The economy of Haryana has been undergoing structural transformation. The wheat-rice productivity is at a saturation point; profitability of these crops is stagnating. Otherwise, also environmentally, it is not sustainable to continue the sub-optimal use of resource-intensive inputs. Workers are seeking employment opportunities in non-agriculture activities in the rural areas. But once they gain confidence in their new vocation, they will be shifting to the urban areas. The service sector is also looking for opportunities in the interiors of Haryana. The service sector demands skilled and educated manpower and well-developed city life. In other words, Haryana needs to develop its cities in a big way. The social sector development is a big stigma on the face of an otherwise progressive state. Better education and health facilities can go a long way to improve the situation. Urbanisation is also associated with air improvement in the social indicators. Haryana needs to spread the benefits of the modern industrial and service sectors to various parts of the state. The mantra is the formulation and implementation of a comprehensive and multi-pronged development strategy that takes care of diversification of agriculture, removal of regional disparities in economic activities and development of social indicators explicitly. |
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While mom's away, dad will pay Go have fun, don't worry about us, the kids will be fine. You deserve a break,” I told my wife, and she flew off to Jamaica, cruelly abandoning the family and ensuring that for eight days our children would essentially have no parent. She would be doing yoga poses in Negril, becoming one with nature, as I would be stuck at home, becoming one with Domino's. The one consolation for me was that this would represent an enormous entry on my side of the ledger. She had tried to stipulate that the trip not be a ledger item, and I had “agreed,” but we all know the ledger is not subject to negotiation. The ledger is omniscient. Nothing can escape its eternal gaze. I am not incompetent in the domestic arts, but eight days as Solo Dad proved to be a learning experience. About halfway through my tenure, I discovered that the objects strewn all over the house had failed to move. They were stunningly inertial. What had been cast down on Sunday remained there on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Since the children were never going to pick anything up, I realized it was up to me to learn once and for all how to ignore the debris. When you're Solo Dad you must train yourself to look but not see. Discarded garments, shoes, hair thingies, unread and unsigned school forms from the principal's office, Barbie slippers, half-eaten bagels, empty Blockbuster video cases, cigar stubs and so on must become indistinguishable from the grain in the floorboards. If someone's toddler is in the house and finds a cat treat and starts to eat it, just offer the kid some milk. It's all very simple if you believe in your debris. For any man who becomes Solo Dad for an extended period, it's important to remember that “holding down the fort” simply means keeping the kids alive. Yes, the kids may forget to do the occasional book report, and may never actually bathe, but you have to have the courage not to care. You have to avoid the common mistake of excessive parenting. As a culture we don't give our children enough responsibility for their lives. They should make the hard decisions about which cartoons to watch. They should decide whether to eat an entire sack of pizza-flavored Goldfish crackers or switch to the cheddar-flavored Goldfish. Work is tricky, however. One option is to call in sick, which arguably is a very accurate description of being a single parent. “I've come down with a case of children,” you could say. My own week went pretty smoothly, because I have an employer who doesn't require that I come to work. I did a lot of “telecommuting,” which means “talking to your boss on the cell phone as you drive your kids to piano lessons.” A week spent shuttling kids around made me think of the assertion by the president and many others that “a marriage is between a man and a woman.” Clearly by that description a marriage is understaffed. A family needs at least three parents and ideally four or five. I know that might annoy some conservatives, but Heather needs at least two mommies. And many times I've looked at all the dysfunctional things around the house — leaky faucets, peeling paint, creaky floorboards — and thought, “This house needs a man.” Mostly a home needs a civilizing force, an aesthete, an artist, a supervisor, an enforcer of standards. A boss. I can pretend to be a boss, but I know I'm just a temp. It's her house. You learn a lot about a person when she's gone. You want to say to her: Wow, you do so much more than I realized. I'm sorry I'm such a dork that I never say thanks. I hope you're having fun. Wish you were here. — LA Times-Washington Post |
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Aids spreads in Himachal Industrialisation
of Himachal Pradesh has brought in a large population of truckers and migrants, who are among the highest transmitters of the deadly HIV virus in the state. They constitute 69 per cent of the high-risk population. According to the findings of the ORG Centre for Social Research, the other high-risk groups include female sex workers (FSWs) and injecting drug users (IDUs). These three groups have been categorised as the core transmitters. Shimla district has been identified to have the highest, 30 per cent, of the core group population while Kulu district was found to have the highest (26 per cent) of the bridge group population. The survey reveals that with industrialisation showing an upward trend, increased the population of migrant labour and truckers, who usually live away from their families, has led to the propagation of flesh trade. The total number of sites - places having population groups vulnerable to HIV/AIDS - is reported to be 514 while the total population of these groups was registered at 88,036. Of these, 59 per cent were the migrants, numbering 52,298. The migrants generally hail from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab as well as Jammu and Kashmir and were found to be little educated. Being a tourist attraction, Himachal receives a large number of tourists particularly from April to August. This is seen as another crucial factor in the proliferating flesh trade. While indicating that the demand for female sex workers went up abruptly by four to five times during these months, Shimla and Kulu towns were seen as the main centres of tourist attraction. These sex workers have been recognised to be non-brothel based, belonging to different strata of society. The most shocking revelation was the fact that girls from educational institutes in Shimla and Solan, residing in hostels, indulged in this trade. Their sole motive was to have fun and make easy money to meet their expenses of a luxurious life. These sex workers had a distinct presence mostly in the urban areas. In the rural areas the main pick-up points of FSWs were reported to be highways, construction sites and industrial areas. The injecting drug users (IDUs), who comprised a mere 5 per cent of the core group population, were found in Shimla, Kangra and Kulu districts. Most of the IDUs were found to be students, tourists, local transport workers as well as foreigners, who visited specific sites for taking drugs. They were reportedly hostel students belonging to upper middle class families. The number of IDUs increased during the peak tourist season as did the number of foreigners visiting the state. The state Family Welfare and Health Department has now geared up to deal with the changed scenario. The programme officer of the State AIDS Control Society, Dr C.D. Sharma, while spelling out the strategy to deal with the situation, said that various composite intervention programmes targeting the high-risk population had been devised. These interventions would focus on creating awareness, primarily in the core group. |
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From the pages of What we want to impress upon the minds of our educated countrymen is their duty of doing everything that lies in their power to introduce the custom of widow remarriage into the Hindoo society. The prevention of infanticide will then only become a fait accompli when our virgin widows will be allowed by society to remarry. In Europe where they have widow marriages they have foundling hospitals and other institutions like the above. In Europe, though widows have so many advantages, you can hardly ever get a jury to pronounce the verdict of "guilty" against a woman who has murdered her child. The jury take into consideration the fact that the woman who commits infanticide, commits the crime from no insane or brutal love of it, but from a deep sense of shame, and in accomplishing it suffers a terrible amount of physical as well as mental pain. They, therefore, are naturally disposed not to pass the extreme sentence of the law against her; and they seldom if ever pass it when they fail to get hold of the man who is at the bottom of the crime and of the woman's everlasting shame.
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Happiness consists in the attainment of our desires, and in our having only right desires. A real teacher is he who is well-versed in the Vedas, sinless and unsmitten by desire. What I say to you, I say to all. Watch, watch and pray, lest you should be tempted. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. How many weep for not having seen God? Very few indeed! Verily, he who seeks Him, who weeps for Him, attains Him. Know it for certain that there is no greater Tirtha (holy spot) than the body of man. Nowhere else is the Atman so manifest as here.
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